Commonly, a firefighter carries an identifying card, which may display bar code data identifying the firefighter and which may display a photograph of the firefighter. As exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,652 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,889, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, it is known for said data to be electronically scanned and to be then used to track firefighters arriving at a firefighting site, entering the firefighting site, and leaving the firefighting site.
As a matter of related interest, U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,741 discloses, on a firefighter's garment, a label bearing warnings, washing information, or other information. As stitched in place, the label is covered by a transparent, protective layer of a heat resistant, abrasion resistant, substantially waterproof material, which is stitched in place, all the way around the label. The material may be a biaxially oriented, copolymer film, such as KAPTON film manufactured by E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company of Wilmington, Del.
Historically, perimeter security has been needed at military bases and other military sites. Terrorist activities on Sep. 11, 2001, in the United States and other incidents have highlighted that perimeter security may be also needed at firefighting sites and other sites, particularly where numerous firefighters, emergency workers, and police officers are gathered, many of whom may not be personally acquainted with one another.